July.28.2023
As I am writing this, I am back in my room in Houston, Texas, having completed the 20-something hour journey home. I’ve probably said this in almost every single post, but now that I am back in Houston, it is so surreal how fast our time in Dar flew.
On Wednesday, the interns and Christine had a final presentation session, where we showcased some of the work and findings we had accomplished throughout the summer. I really enjoyed learning about the projects that Annika and Ojas are working on. Although we had many work sessions in cafes, it was great to understand the full background to their projects and to learn about the amazing work they had done in the summer. Although this was our final meeting in Dar, all three of us are planning to continue our projects remotely, back in Houston, throughout the school year! I am extremely excited to see what we continue to accomplish.
I wanted to use this post to extend immense gratitude to our gracious mentors in Tanzania, including the entire NEST360 team, as well as the Rice360 faculty who made our trip smooth and successful.
I also wanted to say that I am so fortunate to have had such an amazing cohort of interns this summer. From sharing pictures to video calls, we have been keeping each other in the loop despite being hundreds or thousands of miles apart. Once school starts, we plan to have an intern dinner, where we will exchange souvenirs and catch up, and I am extremely excited and hope this becomes a tradition for future interns as well!!
As part of our final work for the internship, we were asked to create a final reflection blurb. I have included mine below:
“I truly realized the irreplaceability of on-the-ground work after I first stepped foot into a NICU in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I noted the sights, the smells, the temperatures, the interactions – all things that might have slipped past me, otherwise. My stay in Dar has allowed me to explore many such stories. From the interviews that I conduct with healthcare professionals, I learned about the impact of infrastructure on the delivery of care. From talks with my in-country mentors, I better understood the state of public health initiatives in the country. From team dinners with Rice360 and NEST360, I heard about different motivations and pathways in global health careers. Participating in the Rice360 internship this summer has provided me with an unparalleled chance to extend beyond the classroom and into the field, and it has solidified my interest in working in global health in the future.”
That’s it for the blogs, but I know that my learning journey in global health is far from over. I am excited to continue working with professionals from all across the world and hope to be back in Dar one day!
Thank you for following along this summer 🙂
Shrutika